The Servant's Quarters

Lessons from Neverland

I want to be a friend to my kids. However, I must never lose sight of the fact that, although I can be friendly with them and laugh with them and play with them, I can never be their friend. I'm their father. That comes before everything else.

It's not about deciding (yet again) that I'm going to put the things that I enjoy on hold so that I can spend more time with my kids. It's about making my kids what I enjoy. Period. If I can achieve that, I will be a much better father.

My body is going to continue to grow old. There's nothing I can do to stop that. I'm going to slow down, grow old, and die. But that doesn't mean that I have to grow up.

Christmas should be a memory that's so happy, it makes you fly.

When your daughter calls you at work and asks you to take her out for some special "Daddy/Livie" time, always say yes. (Olivia supprised me with a request that I take her to the "Miracle Worker" one Friday just before Neverland. We saw this marvelous play and ended the evening with some delicious ice cream at Mickey's. It was a wonderful precursor to our Neverland trip.)

Coldstone Creamery's ice cream isn't that great and is vastly overpriced. But when it's eaten while laughing with three of your children, it's worth it.

School teachers are nice people, but sometimes they get things terribly wrong.

You may grow to love things that you don't like if they are loved by your children.

Emotion will fail you. Decisions that are made based on emotion are tenuous at best. But resolve and determination can last forever.

Food staples at the Village Theater - Wendy's, Little Caesar's Hot N Readys, and Coldstone Creamery Ice Cream.

More than anything else, the Lost Boys just wanted a Mommy. So do we all.

You've got to learn to love the burn.

Peter Pan truly will never grow up. Anthony told me that he does thirty productions of "Peter Pan" every year. Not thirty performances. Thirty separate productions. And that's him alone. ZFX has other flight directors, some of whom may do "Peter Pan" as well. And then there's all of those theater companies who don't hire ZFX. What does this mean? It means that somewhere on any given night, Peter Pan is taking the Darling children to explore Neverland. They are immortal. They will never fade. Thank God.